President Tayyip Erdogan and senior government officials have made clear the aim of "Operation Euphrates Shield" is as much about stopping the Kurdish YPG militia seizing territory as the war against ISIS.

Top News

Turkish army tanks and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters make their way in the Syrian border town of Jarablus as it is pictured from the Turkish town of Karkamis, in the southeastern Gaziantep province, Turkey.(Source:Reuters)

The Turkish military shelled a group of Syrian Kurdish fighters south of the town of Jarablus on Thursday, a Turkish security source said, a day after Turkey launched its first US-backed incursion into Syria.

Advertising

The shelling occurred near Manbij, an area controlled by the US-allied Kurdish militia the People’s Protection Units (YPG), after the fighters did not heed a warning from Turkish forces, CNN Turk said. Jarablus lies about 40 km north of Manbij.

President Tayyip Erdogan and senior government officials have made clear the aim of “Operation Euphrates Shield” is as much about stopping the Kurdish YPG militia seizing territory and filling the void left by Islamic State as about eliminating the radical Islamist group itself.